Some of the Student Union Senate's latest activities remind me of the title of neurologist Oliver Sacks' book recounting unusual clinical stories, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and Other Clinical Tales. Though I haven't actually read the book, the title alone causes me to consider the possibility that we have a Senate that mistook its purpose for that of Students for Environmental Action. And that problem of identity is indicative of an even larger one with the Senate as a whole. The Senate is simply too distracted from its real purpose: to stand up for its students. Currently, several senators are working on projects aimed at benefiting the environment. For example, Senator for the Class of 2012 Nipun Marwaha is trying to put a wind turbine in Sachar woods. That's a nice idea (and one that the University has unsuccessfully looked into in the past) but also one that has the potential to inconvenience many students, which doesn't strike me as something the Union should be attempting to do. After all, there aren't that many places on campus where we can go make a good old bonfire. And wind turbines of all sorts tend to make at least a little bit ofl noise. In addition to being ironic, it'd be rather sad to have that woodsy experience interrupted by a giant machine.

Senator for the Class of 2013 Jonah Cohen announced at last week's Senate meeting that he wants to figure out how to dim the hall lights in dormitory halls during quiet hours. Though achieving this may be difficult because of the circuiting of the certain types of fluorescent bulbs, dimming the lights for a good chunk of the day would probably save the University some cash. But then again, do students really want their hall lights to be dimmed during quiet hours? I'd imagine it to be a potentially disorienting situation and also one that seems to patronizingly imply to us that it's bedtime.

And, folks, get excited. Andrea Ortega '13, senator for North Quad, and Jenna Rubin, senator for the Class of 2011, are trying to bring Capt. Paul Watson-the Capt. Paul Watson-to campus. Watson is the star of the show Whale Wars, which airs on Animal Planet. He is also, as one might predict from such credentials, an animal rights and environmental activist. Bringing environment- and animal-loving speakers to campus is a great thing. But this should really be something that the appropriate campus groups work toward organizing without being nudged by the Union.

I'm not against environmentalism, but I just can't see how working on projects such as these are within our senators' job descriptions. I don't mean to belittle environmentalist endeavors in general, but the Senate shouldn't be busying itself and its resources with them. Yes, protecting the environment is good for the University in a general sense, but this is the Senate we're talking about. Its primary goal should be to protect the rights of the students that they represent. The environmental projects need to be left up to the appropriate clubs.

Last year, quite the controversy arose when there were some fishy funding activities regarding bringing Bill Ayers to campus. That resulted in a case before the Union Judiciary, and it turned out that the Senate had acted incorrectly. With regard to widespread environmentalist projects, it's not clear that anyone is misusing power. But it should be.

Our senators have a discretionary budget of close to $11,000 to spend on anything that qualifies as a Union project. As the UJ case last year exposed, while it may be somewhat clear what doesn't constitute such a project, it's at best vague to describe what does constitute one. This is a flawed system of resource allocation, and we should be especially troubled by it when we think about how student clubs struggle to attain sufficient operating funds each semester.

But the issues with resource allocation go beyond just monetary issues: It's a matter of time allocation. While senators busy themselves with their pet projects that they've managed to loosely wedge under the umbrella of a Union project, they could instead be working on issues that are certainly within their arena of responsibility, such as ensuring that the ever-delayed Student Bill of Rights finally becomes policy.

There is a limitless number of positive initiatives of all sorts that could be started on this campus. But as the current environmentally tinted Union projects show, not all such projects need-or should-be completed by the Senate. The Union is beginning the process of revising its constitution. Now is the time to drastically and explicitly limit the ways in which the Senate can spend its funds as well as the actual amount it has to spend. Clubs can spend it better. It's time to resolve the Senate's identity crisis. Our senators should get back to protecting our interests and rights rather than wiggling environmental projects into their political résumés.